By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Board members are sending a message to Springfield: They want a new law that ends cash bail and makes other criminal justice reforms repealed.
Or, short of a decision to repeal the SAFE-T Act, they want to see lawmakers delay its implementation to allow more time for study and debate.
The law, which abolishes cash bail starting Jan. 1 and makes several other changes to policing, has been one of the most divisive issues in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election. While it’s not confined to partisanship — multiple Democratic prosecutors have objected to it — the law has often been opposed by Republicans and supported by Democrats.
County Board members voted 13-6 on Thursday in favor of a resolution calling for the law to be repealed or delayed. The vote fell along party lines with the exception of Dave Tassoni, a Democrat who voted in favor of repeal. The resolution was passed after more than 50 minutes of discussion and debate.
“We could debate for hours and hours and go back and forth on opinion, and that is the problem with the SAFE-T Act: It creates so many unknowns, especially in the legal section in our criminal justice system, that the public is unaware of what the SAFE-T Act actually does,” said Burt Gerl, a Republican who represents District 15.
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John F. Sweeney, a Republican who represents District 20, brought the resolution forward and multiple board members signed on as co-sponsors.
Tassoni said he had “deep concerns” about the law.
“I don’t know where the end of it’s going to unfold,” he said. “Hopefully it’s not as all described.”
Public safety leaders here have spoken out against the bill. Republican State’s Attorney J. Hanley called for it to be delayed and reworked, and Republican Sheriff Gary Caruana has said it needs to be overturned.
“This bill has made it so the victims have no rights,” Caruana said in an interview earlier this week. “The suspects, or the bad guys, have all the rights.”
“It’s total irresponsibility, as far as I’m concerned, on the legislators’ parts.”
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Several clergy members here have rallied in support of ending cash bail, which they say creates a more equitable justice system.
“Folks who can pay their bail, regardless of their crime in most cases, are allowed to go free and await trial based not on the severity of their crime but the size of their pocketbook,” Rev. Matthew Johnson told board members before the vote.
Faith leaders put forward their own resolution in support of the SAFE-T Act, which Johnson noted has “as much legal weight as whatever you might pass this evening.”
“Wealth-based jailing has disproportionately harmed Black communities across Illinois. Right here in Winnebago County, more than 61% of the people incarcerated in our jail are Black and yet only 15% of Winnebago County is Black,” Rev. K. Edward Copeland of New Zion Baptist Church said in a statement after the vote. “The Pretrial Fairness Act addresses this injustice by ensuring that facts and not finances determine who is jailed pretrial.”
County Board member Aaron Booker, a District 1 Republican who spent 30 years in law enforcement before retiring in 2012, said there are good portions of the bill, but “we need to have it fixed now before it gets to the bad point.”
“I’m passionate about it because for 30 years of my life I was out there. I was getting punched and kicked and spit on, and I was shot at once on Christmas Day,” Booker said. “We need to pray that this criminal-hugging bill will never go into effect.”
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Angela Fellars, a Democrat from District 19, said that County Board members opposed to the act should have focused on specific portions of the bill rather than objecting to it in its entirety.
“There are things in the bill such as giving access to training, addressing things such as use of force — there’s even a portion of the bill that prohibits shackling pregnant women who are in active labor,” she said. “These are laws and rules that we need.”
Jim Webster, a District 2 Republican, said both Democrats and Republicans on the board expressed confusion about the act.
“That alone is the very reason to repeal this,” he said. “Or put it on hold until they work on the thing and get the bugs worked out of it.”
How they voted
For repealing the SAFE-T Act: Dave Tassoni, D-5; Jim Webster, R-2; Fred Wescott, R-17; Paul Arena, R-7; Aaron Booker, R-1; John Butitta, R-8; Jean Crosby, R-16; Burt Gerl, R-15; Brad Lindmark, R-4; Kevin McCarthy, R-11; Keith McDonald, R-6; Steve Schultz, R-3; John F. Sweeney, R-20
Against repealing the SAFE-T Act: Angela Fellars, D-19; Angie Goral, D-13; Joe Hoffman, D-10; Tim Nabors, D-14; Dorothy Redd, D-18; Jaime Salgado, D-12;
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.